Murray Energy Corporation, the fifth-largest coal mining company in the United States, announced today that it has filed for bankruptcy. The decision makes seven major coal companies that have filed for bankruptcy since 2014.
In response, Greenpeace USA Climate Campaign Director Janet Redman said:
“Companies like Murray Energy have tried to delay the inevitable by peddling climate denial and calling in political favors, but there’s simply no more market for dirty coal. The writing has been on the wall for the coal industry for years now. We have less than a decade to stop burning coal, oil, and gas if we’re going to prevent runaway climate change. Combined with the plunging cost of wind and solar, these polluting energy sources are quickly becoming obsolete.”
CEO Robert Murray — who once described global warming as “hysterical global goofiness” — has close ties to Donald Trump. Murray donated $300,000 to Trump’s inauguration and has been instrumental in the president’s extensive attempts to roll back environmental regulations since taking office.
“Not even Robert Murray’s close relationship with the Trump administration can keep the outdated coal industry afloat,” Redman added. “We must now work to achieve a just transition away from coal towards renewable energy. That means ensuring workers for Murray Energy and other bankrupt coal companies receive the compensation and benefits they’ve earned as well as providing wage gap coverage, job training, work in renewable energy, and investment in economic diversity in coal country communities. The fossil fuel economy has poisoned communities to line the pockets of a handful of billionaires. The clean energy revolution should leave no one behind.”
More information on Robert Murray and Murray Energy’s political donations and lobbying is available at Polluterwatch.
ENDS
Contact: Ryan Schleeter, Senior Communications Specialist, Greenpeace USA: +1 (415) 342-2386, [email protected]
